reaction to no. what is your reaction to that? and we know by now that the court system is in a bit of a mess. well, now there's a proposal that jury trials could be scrapped for stacks of cases to help fix that backlog. is that the right move, do you think or not? and a poll out today says a majority of people would prefer socialism to capitalism. are you one of those people? and if so, do tell me why. i've got all of that and a few extra bits as well coming up. but first, let's get stuck into the 6:00 news headlines. >> thank you michel. your top news story at 6:00. breaking news story at 6:00. breaking news in the last hour. a body has been found in the search for missing england rugby player tom voice. missing for five days. it's feared the thought he 43 year old was swept away while trying to cross a flooded river

on saturday night during storm darrah. it's believed mr voice had entered the river at arconic after attempting to cross a ford in his car. northumbria's police marine unit discovered a body earlier today. chief superintendent helena barron said the development was extremely sad. in other news, the number of hospital beds in england occupied by patients with flu has increased by 70% in a week, according to nhs england, as it warns of a tidal wave of flu hitting hospitals. nhs leaders are warning hospitals are bracing for a so—called quad demic of disease over the winter months, with an increase in cases of flu and expected increases in covid 19. the government is today demanding immediate mandatory

housing targets from councils as part of its plan to build 1.5 million houses by the next general election. sir keir starmer is vowing to override blockers and put builders first as he prepares to unveil sweeping changes to the planning process. the new plans could mean increased developments on the green belt, though the government has pledged to prioritise brownfield sites. although the plans have been met with criticism. deputy prime minister angela rayner says it is a landmark overhaul. time magazine has named president elect donald trump as its person of the year. it's the second time he's been awarded this title. accepting the honour in america, he claims next year will be even bigger. >> it's i think we're going to have a tremendous run. we have to straighten out some problems, some big problems in the world. it's when we left. we didn't

have any of these problems. we didn't have russia with ukraine. we didn't have israel. october 7th. we didn't have the afghanistan disaster. we didn't have inflation, we had no inflation. and we had a very strong economy. and we're going to do that again. but i think we're going to even up it because now we have experienced a man who tried to set fire to a hotel housing asylum seekers has been jailed for nine years, the joint longest prison sentence in connection with the uk's summer of riots. >> levi fishlock smashed windows and stoked a flaming bin at the houdayinn and stoked a flaming bin at the holiday inn express in rotherham dunng holiday inn express in rotherham during a spate of disorder on the 4th of august. the 31 year old initially denied violent disorder and arson with intent to endanger life, but later pleaded guilty to the charges. fishlock sentence includes a five year licence period after he's released from jail. here's judge jeremy richardson kc. >> you were at the forefront of

it all, playing your part to the full. the venom of racism and racially motivated violence suffused the events from first to last. >> and your final story for now, drivers planning christmas getaways are being warned to expect long queues because of record traffic levels. the aa predicts that friday, december the 20th. remember, that date will be the busiest day on the roads during the festive period, with an estimated 23.7 million drivers planning a trip that's more than the busiest christmas getaway day of any year since the aa began recording data in 2010. the joint second worst days for traffic jams over the 2024 festive period are expected

to be december 21st and monday, december 23rd, with at least 22 million drivers on the road on both of those days. amber traffic warnings have been issued by the aa for all three days. makes you look forward to christmas. those are your latest stories. i'll be back in about an hour. >> for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code or go to gbnews.com/alerts. >> thank you very much for that. my >> thank you very much for that. my name is michelle dewberry and i'm keeping you company until 7:00 tonight. alongside me, i've got my panel. ben habib, the former deputy leader of reform uk, and matthew stadlen, the political commentator. good evening, gents, to both of you. you're very welcome tonight. very disappointed though gentlemen, because today is

christmas jumper day. new review, new review. >> on the way in i saw people wearing their christmas jumpers in great numbers and i was thinking, why are they wearing their christmas jumpers? and now, thanks to coming on your show, i have been educated in the matter. >> i didn't know it was. is there an official christmas jumper day? >> yes there is, and @gbnews we've had an unofficial staff competition to see who had the best christmas jumper i had mine on. i wasn't allowed to wear it for the show just in case, you know, there was any serious issues of the day that happened whilst i'm on air and i'm sitting there on christmas stuff. it wouldn't have been a good look, but i think that i was definitely the winner. so i'm going to show you my christmas jumper today. you can tell me whether or not you think i'm worthy of a prize. hopefully a very high value one. and i hope you've got your christmas jumper on wherever you're watching us tonight. you're very welcome to join the conversation. you can send me your pictures of your christmas jumper if you want. i don't mind getting in touch all the usual ways. email gb views @gbnews. com go to the website

gbnews.com/yoursay. or of course you can tweet or text me, but wherever you are, you're very welcome tonight and i do hope that you are keeping warm weather in christmas jumpers or otherwise. but look, so much we need to discuss tonight, ladies and gents. so shall we kick off with these new housing plans? councils apparently are going to be told that they will need to meet the housing needs of 3000 370,000 new homes a year. should i say this is all part of labour's plans, isn't it? to get britain building again keir starmer, he's been speaking out about this today. take a listen . about this today. take a listen. >> for years we've had not enough houses being built. that means that individuals and families don't have the security that they want. we are determined to break through that, to do what's necessary. of course, we want to get the balance right with nature and the environment. but, you know, if it comes to a human being wanting to have a house for them and their family, that has to be the top priority. >> shadow levelling up kevin hollinrake. he's also had a few things to say. take a listen to

him. >> what i'm concerned about with these rules is that they're really going to drive a coach and horses a bulldozer, if you like, through local concerns about where they're going to be built and how they're going to be built. you know, 1.5 million homes, but lots of those homes are going to be built in greenbelt in rural areas. targets in london will be reduced targets in most of the rural areas. big rural areas across the country will be doubled. so it's really where they're going to be built is the concern. and the thing is people's concerns are going to be completely swept aside by angela rayner in this headlong rush to build more homes when we've already got lots of planning consents around the country. >> there you go. i can tell you, nazir yusuf, the chair of reform uk, he had a few things to say as well. he tweeted the following in response to keir starmer's plans. he said and by your own forecasts, you will import 2.5 million net new people in that same period. he went on to say there are 14 year

old schoolchildren with a better understanding of supply and demand than anyone in your government. ouch! oofi demand than anyone in your government. ouch! oof! right. start wherever you will on this. you are a property man. ben habib, what's your take on these new plans? are they sufficient or not? >> yeah. so i, i actually read the national planning policy framework this morning because i am a property man. and so i thought i'd better understand what the hell's going on. and